George Hodge

George Hodge was a British landowner in British India during the early 20th century. In 1915, Hodge decided to raise the rent on his Indian farm workers, ordering them to produce indigo to dye British cloth; the farmers were penniless, and they were forced to endure starvation. They begged Indian National Congress leader Mahatma Gandhi for help, and Gandhi was arrested while leading the farmers in a series of nonviolent protests against the British. He was forced to agree to allow for the farmers to choose their own crops, to decrease the rent, and to allow for a British-Indian commission to investigate any injuries, with Lieutenant-Governor Edward Albert Gait saying that both the British government and the Indians wanted him to agree.